Paramore Conspiracy Theories

There Is No Such Thing As "Genre-Neutral"

No, there's not.

A pet-peeve of mine, especially because it aligns with my other pet peeve of following trends, is bands (rarely is it single artists) calling themselves "genre-neutral." I know music theory isn't mandatory, but in this case it would help if more people took it. There are two reasons people want to label themselves "genre-neutral:" 

1. Won't admit they sold out to make pop music (Sell Out Boy)

2. Pretentious art reasons (Paramore, more specifically Hayley Williams)

This term is a recent one, surprise surprise, that people who don't want to label themselves are literally using to label themselves. 

Let's analyze a Paramore song and I will explain to you why it's pop and not genre-nuetral.

Fake Happy by Paramore:

I love making you believe

What you get is what you see

But I'm so fake happy

I feel so fake happy

And I bet everybody here

Is just as insincere

We're all so fake happy

And I know fake happy

So I've been doing a good job of makin' 'em think

I'm quite alright, better hope I don't blink

You see it's easy when I'm stomping on a beat

But no one sees me when I crawl back underneath

If I smile with my teeth

Bet you believe me

If I smile with my teeth

I think I believe me

Oh please don't ask me how I've been

Don't make me play pretend

Oh no, oh what's the use

Oh please, I bet everybody here is fake happy too

And if I go out tonight, dress up my fears

You think I look alright with these mascara tears?

See I'm gonna draw up my lipstick wider than my mouth

And if the lights are low they'll never see me frown

If I smile with my teeth

Bet you believe me

If I smile with my teeth

I think I believe me

Oh please don't ask me how I've been

Don't make me play pretend

Oh no, oh oh what's the use?

Oh please, I bet everybody here is fake happy too

I know I said that I was doing good and that I'm happy now

I should've known when things were going good that's when I'd get knocked down

Oh please, just don't ask me how I've been

Don't make me play pretend

Oh no, oh no, oh what's the use?

Oh please, I bet everybody here is fake happy too

Oh please

Oh please

Pop music criteria: 

Short to medium length song

Uses melodic tones (melody)

Hook

Verse/chorus/verse format

1. Length 

Fake Happy is 3 minutes 55 seconds and in terms of pop music would be considered medium length (short being 2 minutes and below, and long being 5 minutes and over). There are very few of Paramore's songs that break the length rule, ther mostly put out short to medium length songs, which aligns them with pop.

2. Melody

In Fake Happy there is a section specifically where a ba da ba ba ba da type melody is sung out instead of lyrics, they used this same concept earlier on Brick By Boring Brick.

3. Hook

This: 

I love making you believe

What you get is what you see

Is the hook of the song. An opening line meant to be mysterious or intriguing to draw the listener in. Definitely not the first hook they've used. 

4. Format

Nearly all of Paramore's songs are laid out in the typical pop format, verse/chorus/verse. It goes:

Verse 1 

(Sometimes prechorus)

Chorus 

Verse 2

Chorus 

Bridge 

Chorus repeat

Nearly all of their songs are written in this way, with few exceptions. 

I don't have a problem with musicians breaking the rules, I have a problem with them saying they're breaking the rules when they're actually following them pretty religiously, especially if "breaking the rules" is the current trend. Paramore and FOB both in particular for the reasons I stated earlier. Both make pop music, but won't admit it. They are pop bands now, thats what they are. Just because they don't feel pop doesn't mean they can change music theory to fit their feelings. Paramore have been making pop music their whole career, which is why people have called them pop punk, pop rock, it correlates with what they're doing. They've only now shredded labels (albeit while labeling themselves), and it's not because they no longer make pop music (they do, and always have), it's to score indie points and sound cool.